It is often required to limit availability of confidential electronic information only to authorized individuals. Several techniques exist for ensuring that only intended recipients are able to access confidential information. These techniques vary in their complexity and degree of security provided. Encryption is one such technique which is commonly used where a high degree of security is required.
Encryption may be of two types, namely, symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption. In symmetric encryption, a secret key which is used to encrypt electronic information is shared between a sender and a recipient of the electronic information. The secret key is used for both encryption and decryption of the electronic information. In comparison, asymmetric encryption uses a public key corresponding to a recipient to encrypt electronic information. However, in order to decrypt the encrypted electronic information, a decryption key, called a private key, is required. Further, the private key is meant to be accessible only by the recipient. Asymmetric encryption has been found to provide robust protection of electronic information and ease of use where a single recipient receives confidential information from multiple senders.
Generally, it may be assumed that an authorized recipient has access to a decryption key and may thus decrypt an encrypted electronic information. However, situations may arise where the decryption key is not available to use. Nonetheless, the authorized recipient may need to access the electronic information, without of course compromising confidentiality. One such situation is where the decryption key is contained in a smart-card and an electronic device used by the recipient to access the electronic information does not include a smart-card reader. Moreover, there may be situations where even when the decryption key is available, it may not be preferable to use on an electronic device. For example, the electronic device may not be capable of performing the decryption within an acceptable time-frame due to constraints on available computing resources.
In all such cases where the decryption key is not available or not preferable to use due to any reason, an authorized recipient is unable to access the electronic information. Therefore, there is a need for methods and systems for allowing an authorized recipient to decrypt encrypted electronic information in such cases without compromising protection of the electronic information from unauthorized individuals.